Sailor Moon ZW: The Zodiac Warriors
by Lance-gyronaut
Summary: UPDATE - Currently under rewrite - I didn't like the way it was turning out, so I'm rewriting. Ch. 4-5 up!
1. Disclaimer and Background

Sailor Moon: The Zodiac Warriors

A fanfic by: Lancegyronautt

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I'll get right to the point, I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its characters. If this fic seems similar to anyone else's, that is pure coincidence, nothing more. Also, I know absolutely jack-shit of Japanese, so the entire fic will be with the English translated names and no Japanese anywhere that I realize. I have also only seen the episodes released over here in North America, so that would be up to about the Pegasus Saga.

Now, a bit of info on the Zodiac Warriors.

First off, they are an original creation of mine, though their design and slow 'evolution', for lack of a better word, was influenced by various anime and video games, the first in that long list being Shining Force: the Sword of Hadja for Game Gear(anyone remember that?) At first, the leader of the Zodiacs was all I had in my mind, Lance Gyronaut. He was the Deathknight, which to any of you who played that particular game, would recall as one of the later enemies in the game. Of course at the time, he didn't have a name, just 'Deathknight'. Then, awhile later, I started to watch the Technoman series that had been ported over from Japan.

And so it was that the first 'evolution' began. And my little character finally got a name.

The Deathknight was dropped, instead, Technoman Raze took his place. Another 'good' technoman, he had learned how to increase the power of his technocrystal and started to enhance his already awesome power.

Of course, this wasn't the end of it. I later caught DBZ one day. And suddenly, Technoman Raze was using direct energy blasts from his hands and such. At about this time, I dropped the whole energy-based lance and sword that Raze used, going to a physical blade forged by Raze.

Then I played FF7.

Once more, another 'evolution' took place, once more with his attacks. I started giving Raze the magic from FF7 and in the end, even all of Cloud's limit breaks, as normal attacks. I also added a pair of laser blasters in his gauntlets and just beside his neck. At about this time, I started to create the other Zodiacs(though I had yet to call them that).

And then, the point where the Zodiac Warriors took on their new, but certainly not last, 'evolution'. I played FFT.

That's when the whole Technoman thing was dropped. In his place rose the thirteen Zodiac Warriors. Raze was dropped, in favor of Lance Gyronaut, Gemini Zodiac Warrior. Then there were the technoman-influenced Zodiacs: Slade Dasune, Taurus Zodiac Warrior; Sabre Dasune, Aries Zodiac Warrior; and Gunner Mitsuri, Scorpio Zodiac Warrior. Of course, more came later, but as of now only seven of the thirteen Zodiac Warriors have been permanently defined, but more on that later.

The final 'true evolution' came when I started watching Sailor Moon. For the longest time, the Zodiacs had just been a minor thought in my mind, just some awesomely powerful warriors who took down evil wherever they found it(how clichéd!), and suddenly, it all came together. The Zodiac Warriors became the Moon Kingdom's most elite fighters, with powers that exceeded the strength of the scouts by a grand amount. The crystals they used to access their destructive powers had at one time been a part of the Silver Crystal that had fractured and broken off from the main crystal. In this way they were forever bound to guard the holder of the crystal, and those the person held dearest, with their lives.

Of course I had to find a way to tie them in with the scouts in some way. So in the end it ended up they were brothers to some of the scouts. The actual relationships are as follows…well, no. That would spoil a great deal of the fic I'm writing. All I'll tell you is that Slade and Sabre are brothers(if you didn't figure that out).

Finally, each Zodiac was granted a 'secondary' strength or skill, to further diversify them. Lance ended up being a Master of Time and Space, with the ability to control and look into the past, present, even the future to an extent, as well as other dimensions.

Slade became the Demolitions expert, Sabre was granted extremely high intelligence to the point that in one passing glance, he could tell you about a thousand things about a person. Gunner was made perfectly accurate, able to hit a bull's-eye set on HIS back by shooting straight forward.

After all that, the usual changes happened while I played around with the idea, but nothing major.

Ahem, now then. A brief overview of each Zodiac(the seven that are permanent):

Lance Gyronaut – Gemini Zodiac Warrior, Master of Time and Space. The 'unofficial' leader of the Zodiac Warriors, bearer of the Gemini Sabre, an unbreakable sword which can absorb any energy flung against it. Lance is usually melancholic, silent, like something had just happened and he blames himself for it. But when he's with his friends, you see the side of him that is hidden beneath the silent stare: A fun-loving guy who can dish out quite a few good jokes. He is a master of all weaponry, even those not known to Earth. His base element is Lightning, though he uses a bit of Fire techniques as well.

Slade Dasune – Taurus Zodiac Warrior, Demolitions Expert, the comedian of the group. Although he is a few years older than Lance, he acts like a teenager: Pulling pranks, telling jokes, etc., though most of his jokes are extremely unfunny. Only his brother Sabre knows why he does this. His weapon, the Taurus Lance, is double-bladed as well as both blades being double-edged. He uses untyped energy attacks, though he does use a few Lightning attacks every now and then.

Sabre Dasune – Aries Zodiac Warrior, Intelligence Operative. Also a spy, he is Slade's twin brother, but only in appearance. Where Slade is comical and easy going, Sabre is calm, calculating, and ready for a fight almost all the time. Which doesn't say he won't get down and party like a wild man, its just he can control himself better than Slade. His weapon, the aptly named Aries Cross, is a four-bladed weapon shaped like, you guessed it, a cross. He wields it like a club or axe. Much like his brother, he uses untyped energy attacks, but mostly resorts to his infinite knowledge of Ice techniques.

Gunner Mitsuri – Scorpio Zodiac Warrior, Sniper. His marksmanship makes him a deadly foe, as he never, _ever_, misses a shot. Perhaps the best way to describe him is a cross between Slade and Sabre, except that his jokes provoke a laugh every time. He wields the Scorpio Bow, and as a marksman, knows how to use it. He mostly unleashes anything Ice based, but sometimes resorts to untyped energy attacks if required.

That's all the ones I'll describe in detail, here are the other three.

Talon Gyronaut, Serpentarious Zodiac Warrior, Chemist. (serpentarious comes from FFT.)

Zen Phoenix, Capricorn Zodiac Warrior, Vortex Speciallist

Moira Zendora, Sagittarius Zodiac Warrior, infiltrator.

That's it. Now then…ON TO THE FIC!


	2. Chapter 1 Observers

**The Zodiac Warriors**

A Sailor Moon fanfic written by: LanceGyronautt

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_From the Silver came the thirteen._

_Imbued with the power of the stars,_

_The thirteen swore eternal loyalty to the Silver._

_Across time, across space, even thru the dimensions,_

_The thirteen kept this oath,_

_Guarding each holder of the Silver with their lives._

_Alas, one of the thirteen was captured._

_From it, the dark thirteen were created._

_To slay the holder of the Silver, was their mission._

_Across time, across space, even thru the dimensions,_

_The dark thirteen continued._

_Always foiled in their attempts by the thirteen._

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Ch. 1 – Observers

Tokyo. A bustling city in Japan. Usually, nothing extraordinary ever happened, nothing that was recorded and put in the newspapers, anyway. Of course, there was a small group of fighters who defended it from cosmic threats, but few people knew of them, and those that did, didn't even know who they were in reality. But none of this mattered much to the young man who stood on a hill overlooking the city, his azure blue eyes looking across the city with what appeared to be total disinterest, his straight light brown hair swaying gently in the breeze. The motorcycle behind him suggested he was American born, a large HD inscribed on the side of the gas tank.

All things considered, this young man was totally ordinary, if you happened to overlook his sunglasses, which appeared to never be removed during the day; or perhaps the fact he wore a sword, hidden beneath the black duster he wore; or maybe even the long scar that ran from just beneath his hair line, over his left eye, and a millimeter under his jaw. In truth, this young man still was wondering what had possessed him to make the overseas trip to Tokyo, why he'd decided to leave his home in Los Angeles, California; and come to a place where he knew no one. He contemplated it only a second more, before shrugging his shoulders and sighing.

"Not that it matters much now, Lance," he told himself angrily, "You're here now, so you might as well figure out why that dream told you to come..." So it was, that Lance had come to be standing on this hill. A dream, or in his words, THE dream, one that had haunted him ever since his sixteenth birthday, nearly four years ago. The details of it had always been clouded, but one thing was constant: A woman's voice, telling him to find her daughter and guard her with his life from the 'Dark Ones', and then, he would see the city of Tokyo just before waking up. It had always confused him, wondering what this all meant. At first, he'd wrote it off as too much pizza, but when the dream repeated every night after, he started to get suspicious. That, and the fact that the star-shaped crystal he carried around began to glow every night. He only learned of this when he went to bed early once and woke up in the middle of the night to a soft, pulsing, purple glow coming from it. Not only that; but his sword, acquired when he was about six from some guy he'd never met, seemed to resonate in synch with the crystal's rhythmic glow…

"Stop it." Lance told himself, realizing he was dwelling on things that he felt would never be explained, "Time to get a move on and find somewhere to sleep." Turning, he started back for his bike when his left eye beeped and started to zoom in on a temple in the distance. Far from being surprised, Lance gave a huff of exasperation.

That was the only other thing that made Lance different from all other human beings: an artificial left eye. What was odd was that he'd been born with scar and eye, the doctor discovering that his left eye was some sort of organic technology, which would grow with the person using it, a technology no earth scientist had ever broke the secrets of. His parents had told the doctor to never reveal that particular aspect of their son, fearing the military might take him and run all the manner of tests on him. It wasn't until Lance was 14 years old that he discovered the secret of his eye. Being an adolescent who had just then started having an interest in girls (romantically, of course) he immediately started to test if his eye had an x-ray function. It didn't, and Lance grumbled about it for a long time.

What he did discover was that the eye would send a signal to his brain, which would cause him to see the HUD thru both eyes, preventing him from being disoriented by a sudden flash in one eye. He soon knew each of the functions of the eye; activated by his thoughts; but had no idea what some of them did. He knew what "Zoom" was for, and soon learned it would activate on its own for little or no reason at all. As his eye zoomed in, he noticed it was zooming on a group of girls, sitting and talking on the steps of what had to be the main structure of the temple. Lance huffed again; realizing it was nothing of importance…or was it?

Lance found himself staring at the girl who appeared to either work or live at the temple. She was wearing ceremonial robes and had long, dark hair. His eye had zoomed as far as it could, so he couldn't get much more detail. But something about the girl seemed…familiar.

-----

"I still don't believe we all got into the same college," Raye said, "Especially Serena."

Serena shot an angry look at Raye. "Will you stop teasing me already?! I know it must come as a surprise, but just get over it!"

"Well, I must agree, it was surprising to see that you actually graduated," Amy said, "and not just us either."

"Yeah, I think I saw your old teacher faint when she heard the news." Lita said jokingly, her brown ponytail shaking as she laughed. Serena immediately, but lightly, slugged her in the arm. "Could we just get back to business, and NOT talk about my sudden intelligence?" Serena said, looking at the other four girls. "Now, why'd you call us here, Raye?"

Raye nodded before starting. "You know it's been quiet for the past few years, right?" All the girls nodded, knowing what she meant, "Well, I hate to say this, but I've been getting bad vibes lately, like something is about to happen." Raye furrowed her brow at this.

"You're joking, right?" Mina asked, a worried look in her eyes, one that got worse as Raye shook her head. "Great, and I thought we'd actually get to act normal for awhile."

A long silence settled, as all the girls thought about what this could mean. Of course, what it meant was having to fight again, as the Sailor Scouts. It seemed that no matter what, they seemed to always be destined to battle some sort of freak or other thing.

Raye's head snapped up suddenly, breaking the silence with a sharp intake of air before she stood and started looking around.

"What's up, Raye?" Amy asked.

"I feel like we're being watched…" Raye responded, still looking. For some strange reason, something felt familiar about whatever was watching them. Her eyes finally settled on a distant hilltop, and she started. Even at the distance she was, she could faintly discern a figure on the hilltop. Oddly, it seemed whomever it was realized she was staring at him, and turned away, vanishing from the hilltop.

_Who was that? _Raye asked herself, still staring at the hilltop…

-----

Deep in space…

An armored figure stood gazing at the blue sphere before him float through space. The planet Earth, filled with all the manner of life forms, hoping one of them was the object of his group's mission. The armor the figure wore was dark, with jagged protrusions coming off his elbows and the front of his boots. The armor covered him from head to foot, leaving no area that was vulnerable to attack. The faceplate covering his face prevented any detail of his face from being seen, a pair of glowing trapezoid-like slits over where his eyes would be. A figure of medium build, one hand gripping a large trident, he was a fearsome figure to behold.

"Scyther, come forth!" His dark voice boomed out, echoing through the many passages of the cloaked battlestation. Soon after, another similarly armored figure walked through the door, except he was thin and spindly, wielding a massive scythe. He chuckled maniacly as he walked in.

"Yess, Darkkhan?" The newcomer, Scyther, said to the first figure. The first man, Darkkhan, turned slowly to face Scyther, giving him a look that would've struck a mortal with sudden fear. Even Scyther seemed to back down, letting a slight psychotic chuckle escape his lips.

"What is the result of the energy scan?" Darkkhan demanded, emphasizing it with a hard rap on the floor with the bottom of his trident. Scyther started slightly, but remained in his hunched-over stance, one hand on the hilt of his scythe. "General localization of various energy types, few major concentrations…but I believe we have finally located the planet the princess had escaped to." Scyther finished, his voice one of a scientific genius.

"How do you know this?" Darkkhan asked, narrowing his eyes.

"There is a large concentration of 'Lunar" energy upon an island chain known as Japan. Other than that location, there are no other concentration points. What's more, there are also large concentrations of each planetary energy on and around Japan, but no where else…" Scyther said, and then got to the bad news, "Unfortunantly, we have also detected large concentrations of Zodiac energy, primarily Gemini, Taurus, Aries, and Scorpio."

"The Zodiac Warriors…but they aren't awake yet, at least Lance and Gunner aren't, am I right?" Darkkhan asked, staring at Scyther, who shook his head.

"No, Gunner isn't awake yet. But we must be careful, for Slade and Sabre may very well be." Scyther responded.

Darkkhan nodded. "Where are they?"

Scyther walked over to a wall and hit a switch, revealling a large map of Earth's surface. "Gunner is somewhere here.." A location in central Africa lights up, "While Slade and Sabre are here…" A set of locations appeared in South America, "As for Lance…we can't pinpoint his exact location."

"WHAT!?" Darkkhan demanded furiously, "You'd better locate him, or I'll have your head!"

Scyther cringed, but continued. "The primary concentration was here, in a city called Los Angeles.." California lit up, "But it has been fading for a few days, so we believe he isn't there. It will take a few more days to pinpoint where he has gone." Scyther finished, shutting off the map.

"I see," Darkkhan said, turning back to the view of Earth, "do we have a mechanid ready?" Darkkhan asked, keeping his focus on Earth.

"Yes, I have already crafted one. Gunthar is crafting more if needed. Should I send it?" Scyther asked.

Darkkhan contemplated for only a few seconds, before replying. "Yes. Set it's target to Princess Serena.."

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Well, what do you think? Depending on the reviews I get, I put up the next chapter or remove this entirely.


	3. Chapter 2 The First Strike

Author's note - As I write this, I think this chapter will be a bit longer than my last. And thanks to the one person who's reviewed (at the moment I type this that is.) the first chapter, because honestly I didn't expect such a positive review. That's what I get for beating myself up, then.

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Chapter 2 – The First Strike

The rumble of the Harley's powerful engine had by now settled deep into Lance's bones, but unlike most people, this caused him to become more aware of his surroundings, his mind noting various differences in the road he rode on, the trees, even people five blocks away. He had never been able to find words that could properly describe the feeling, just shrugging it off as yet another aspect of himself he would probably never understand. Many people stared at him as he passed, in total wonder at the machine he rode, since motorcycles of its make were rarely seen on this side of the pacific. Lance ignored the stares, despite the fact some made him just want to laugh out loud.

"But," he reminded himself sternly, "you don't have time for that. Gotta find a place to live, so you aren't out in the open in the middle of the night." Lance had already decided he's stay at a motel while looking for a place to call home, even if it might be temporary. Money he didn't worry about for the time being, having all his savings in one of the saddlebags on the bike guarded by a small auto-taser he'd created awhile back. Of course, he'd have to be careful too; otherwise he'd end up getting shocked bad by the small device. He'd have to remember to say the password before opening the bag.

_Don't worry so much! _He once again reprimanded himself, _You're here, and all you can do is worry, jeez…why don't you think about something else instead, huh? Like maybe that feeling of familiarity you got from that girl?_ Lance gave a short sigh of annoyance. No matter what, his mind repeatedly went back to her, and he was starting to wonder why. He hadn't had a girlfriend in forever, so could it be loneliness? _No, not that. Something else, but what?_ Shaking his head, Lance grumbled in agitation.

"A little late to be looking for a girlfriend, don't you think?" He asked himself, for once not really having an answer.

Lance decided to put his thoughts on hold, pulling into the parking lot of a motel. Walking up to the desk clerk, he waited till he was through with whatever the man was doing. The clerk looked up after about three minutes, looked at the bike, blinked, and then tried to say something in English. "D…Dewa…yooa kneeda eha rhooma?" the clerk asked. Lance paused for a second, blinked as well, then in nearly perfect Japanese, said "Don't worry about trying to speak in English just because of me, I know Japanese." This statement caused the clerk to relax a bit, before asking the question again in Japanese. Lance nodded, asked the rate, paid, and taking the key, went to his room, parking his bike just outside of it.

Throwing most of his stuff on the floor, Lance looked at the side pack that held his cash, already converted into yen. "Fire and Lightning Forever." Lance spoke, a small confirming beep resounding from the pack. Lance once again thought about what had made him decide on such a poetic password, still drawing a blank. Lance sighed before opening the bag and getting a bit of cash from it, sliding it into his wallet, before reactivating the device inside the pack and closing it. "Time to go find some food." Lance mumbled as he walked out, locking the door and jumping on his bike. It roared as he kicked it on, walking it backwards before rumbling out of the parking lot and onto the road again.

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Only a few streets over, Raye was having the same thought, as she walked along the road toward one of the more respectable dining establishments. Her thoughts, though, shifted between food and the figure she'd seen on the hilltop earlier that day. Something had felt familiar about it, but why she didn't know. She heard a distant rumble, but disregarded it, figuring it was just someone starting a loud motorcycle. Thus walking, not paying much attention to her surroundings, she didn't notice the man who suddenly lunged out of a nearby alleyway. She did realize he was there, when she was roughly grabbed and hauled into it, being forcefully slammed into a wall. Looking at the man, she also saw two others behind him, snickering.

"Well, well…what have we here?" The one who grabbed her asked, then answered himself, "Looks to me like a young girl walking alone. Whats say we have a little 'fun' with her, hey boys?" the man said to the others, before flicking a switchblade open. Before she could try to escape, or fight back, the other two had grabbed her arms and ankles, while the third, the one who grabbed her stepped up to her.

"Someone, HEL-" Raye started to scream, but was cut off by a hard punch to the gut, followed by the man with the knife grabbing her chin and lifting her face to his. "Try that again, and I'll cut you real good for your troubles. Now shut up and hold still." With that, the man inserted the knife under the hem of Raye's shirt front, cutting the front open, before doing the same with her bra, and following it up with her skirt and panties.

"Heheh, say girl, you're a virgin, ain't ya?" the man said, chuckling evilly, "Well, guess what? That's about to change." The man said as he began to undo his pants. Raye closed her eyes, afraid of what was coming, her mind registering the deep sound of a motorcycle roaring up, and clicking off. Just before the man could do anything, a new voice spoke up, a threatening voice.

"Leave her alone, you sick, sadistic bastards."

Raye's eyes flashed open and looked in the direction of the voice, finding its owner standing at the entrance, one hand dropped to the hilt of what looked to be a sword, his light brown hair appearing to be a bit wind-blasted, a long scar running from under his hair, under the shades on his head and across his left eye, and down under his jaw. The man assaulting her quickly zipped up his pants before grinning evilly at the newcomer.

"Hey, pal. Why don't you just run along before you get hurt?" He sneered at the other man; "This ain't none of your business."

The newcomer didn't even seem fazed, instead drawing his sword and saying in a cool, authoritative voice, "I'll ask again. Leave her alone or forever regret it."

-----

Lance had been turning down a road when he'd seen a girl get grabbed from behind and hauled into an alleyway. Generally, Lance would've just ignored it, deciding it didn't concern him, but then he realized the girl was the same one he'd seen from the hilltop, and realized he just couldn't leave her at the mercy of the nymphomaniac rapists. "Me and my conscience when I feel I know someone.." Lance said bitterly, before pulling the bike to a stop just outside the alleyway and taking off his duster. If he was going to fight, he'd need mobility. One hand resting on the hilt of his sword, he stepped into the alleyway and with a bit of annoyance in his voice, making it threatening, he said,

"Leave her alone, you sick, sadistic bastards."

The one just then about to start on her turned, hurriedly zipping up his pants before grinning at him, a look that made Lance's stomach churn. "Hey, pal. Why don't you just run along before you get hurt?" the man asked, sneering and making Lance want to just cut the man's dick off and shove it down his throat so he'd shut up, "This ain't non of your business." That last line pissed Lance off more, mostly because it was true, but partly cause no one told Lance that something wasn't his business, especially if Lance had already involved himself. Slowly sliding his sword out, Lance said, "I'll ask again. Leave her alone or forever regret it."

This apparently didn't bode well with the man, who whipped out a switchblade and rushed at Lance. Being a master of various martial arts, some dealing with weaponry, Lance side-stepped the wild thrust and hammered the underside of the man's wrist with the spiked hand guard of his sword, disarming the man, and causing a bit of damage as well. This, though, didn't stop the man from screaming curses, which Lance didn't like much, especially in front of a woman, damn the chivalrous streak that ran in him, Lance thought. Lance brought his knee up into the man's groin, feeling something burst as the man screamed in pure agony. This was followed by a hard left into the man's gut, and a knee to the chin that sent the man flying backwards, sprawling him on a few crates. The girl forgotten, his two buddies rushed Lance, only to be met with a fierce roundhouse kick that landed them on the first, who was slowly recovering.

"Earrrgh…we won't forget this, bastard!" the first man yelled, in a distinctly higher pitch than normal, before breaking into a stagger-run along with his two friends. Lance sheathed his sword, before going back to his bike and retrieving his duster, but not for him. Walking back to the girl, who sat in a huddled mass next to the wall she'd been slammed against, Lance knelt down, setting the duster over her front.

"You alright?" Lance asked, taking the time to get a good look at her. There was no mistake, this was that girl he'd seen. Long, midnight black hair, and now that he was close enough to see, amethyst colored eyes. In short, she was beautiful, but Lance didn't say this out loud, more concerned if she was wounded. "I..I'm fine.." she said, looking at him. Lance could instantly tell that while physically she was unharmed, emotionally she was a wreck, shaking while she looked at him. Lance was about to respond when another female voice rang out.

"Get away from her, you bastard!"

Lance turned to see who it was, only to be grabbed by the collar of his shirt and slammed into the wall by another girl, this one with brown hair done up in a ponytail and green eyes. Despite her small frame, she was strong. "What'd you do to her!" the girl yelled in his face, and he finally realized he'd seen this one along with the other girl on the hilltop. Which made the appearance of three others not at all surprising.

"Lita, stop!" the girl with black hair yelled at the brown-haired one, Lita, Lance noted, "He just saved me from a bunch of rapists!" This comment startled them all, and Lita dropped him. "I don't know who you are, but thanks…" she said, standing up with the help of a blue-haired girl. _Blue hair, huh? Japan's got some strange hairstyles…_ Lance thought, before the girl, Lita, turned back to him. "Um, well…I just saw and….I'm sorry." She said, a bit embarrassed Lance noted. Lance shrugged before responding, "False assumption, no problem, happens all the time." Lance said, causing the four girls besides the one he just saved relax.

"Who are you anyway?" The girl asked, "And why DID you help me?" Lance thought about this for a second, deciding against the whole I-felt-I-knew-you-so-I-couldn't-just-turn-away response, instead coming up with this. "I just can't stand pricks like those three, trying to take advantage of a girl. As for me, I'm Lance." He finished, nodding. The black-haired girl nodded back before responding, "Well, I'm Raye, this is Amy," motioning to the blue-haired girl next to her, "..and you've already met Lita. So that leaves just Mina," motions to the blonde with the red ribbon in her hair, "And Serena." motions to the girl with the rather long pigtails. At the mention of the name Serena, and looking at her caused something to click in Lance's head.

_Serena…why is that so familiar, not to mention all those names…but her's in particular…perhaps something related to that dream of mine?_ Lance mused over it, but decided to drop it as they started to look at him funny. "Yes, is there a problem?" Lance asked. Lita was the one who answered him.

"You're probably gonna think this is strange, but have we met before?"

-----

A few weeks later…

Lance had finally found a decent place to live, and it seemed Raye's grandpa needed some help around their temple, so Lance had signed up regardless of the fact it didn't pay squat. He'd made six friends so far, being introduced to Serena's boyfriend, Darien. Once again, the name and face caused something to click, but it still didn't make any sense. Of the six, only four just saw him as a friend, as Lance was also introduced to Lita and Mina's flirtatious ways, which annoyed him to no end. After asking if they did this to every guy they thought was 'cute' and getting a yes from Amy, Lance rolled his eyes and just tuned them out any time they were trying to get him to be their boyfriend.

Lance regardless, felt some sort of attachment to Lita, but not in the sense of a girlfriend, but more of a brotherly feeling. This, of course, couldn't be true, since Lita hadn't been born in the states. While he felt more of a romantic attraction to Raye, Lance had never voiced this openly, although it seemed Serena annoyed Raye to no end with questions about when they were finally going to announce their relationship, which usually ended with Raye chasing Serena around with a broom. Besides those occurrences, everything remained quite peaceful and relaxed.

But, as Lance found out the hard way one day, peace has a hard time in surviving the jaws of war.

-----

It was about nine-o-clock, the sun just starting to set. Lance would be going home soon, his job almost finished for the day. It had been strangely quite that day, making him suspicious. As a precaution, one he deemed foolish now, he'd brought his sword and that strange crystal of his, why the crystal he never knew.

_And why am I being paranoid, anyways?_ His mind's voice chided him, _Because that dream has been going in full force? _Lance shook his head, deciding he needed a nice rest, one hopefully unplagued by dreams. Unfortunately, for Lance, that little thought was about to come true.

Walking down the path towards the temple stairs, Lance nearly fell on his ass as a large flaming..._something_ crashed in front of the stairs, the sounds of ticking metal cooling feeling the air. The crash had also alerted the girls, who were still around, as they came running outside to see what had happened. Lance, however, saw none of this as he gripped his sword, a sudden dread gripping his heart. It wasn't long before the sound of battle became evident, and Lance snuck forward.

"What the hell is that?" Lance asked himself, peeking through a bush at the large creature. _Creature? Hell, the things a robot and that's that._ So it was, the four legged, multiple weaponed thing was indeed a type of robot, and right now it was fighting-

_Girls in sailor outfits, who would've thought of that?_ Lance shrugged his shoulders, suddenly thinking this must be a dream, and since he was seeing a large mechanical monster, why not cute girls who look like the five he knows wearing miniskirts and sailor outfits…who can use magic, Lance corrected himself, watching the green-suited one unleash a ball of lightning, that crashed into the machine…

…and didn't do anything noticeable, the machine shrugging it off and releasing a hail of energy bullets at the girl, which all missed big time. Pissed, the machine fired in random directions, one bullet grazing Lance's arm and hurting like a son-of-a-bitch, and making Lance realize this was no dream. About the time he realized this, the girl who looked a helluva lot like Raye released some sort of fire arrow, which also did little to the machine but piss it off. In response to the attack, two devices curved up from the machine's back, set on secondary arms, the two things looked like some sort of radar dish…

…that spat out electricity, massive waves of electricity, striking the girl and lifting her into the air as she was slowly tortured by the machine. Her piercing scream filled the area, and suddenly, Lance thought he'd gone quite mad.

Especially since he was suddenly on his feet, running at the machine, at the field of lightning that held the girl. His instincts and mind all screamed at him, calling him insane, yelling to stop, but something deeper in his mind kept him going, a repeating image of these same girls being blasted by a being of darkness, a feeling of regret as he numbly felt someone slam into him from the side. He couldn't hear anything else but the girl…no, it was Raye's screams. That bit of information clicked, and he finally didn't give a rat's ass about himself. The form that tried to knock him down was flipped over his shoulder, landing with a nearly inaudible thud as he continued.

Taking one last step, Lance launched himself through the air, slamming hard into Raye and knocking her free, and realizing the foolishness of the move, as the lightning started to fry him.

-----

Even as she watched Mars being electrocuted, Sailor Jupiter tried to think of a way to get her out. Only someone beat her to the punch, so to speak, as out of nowhere Lance had appeared, running right at the thing. Seeing the look in his face told Jupiter all she needed to know and suddenly she was running too, not at the machine, but at him, to try and stop him.

Colliding with him, she started yelling. "Are you crazy, you want to die pal!?" She screamed at him, only he didn't even seem to hear her as he crouched lower to the ground and flipped her over his back, causing her to land hard on her rear. Jupiter turned to try to stop him again, but realized it was too late as he launched into the maelstrom of lightning and knocked Sailor Mars out of it. Unfortunately, he was now the one caught in the attack.

Making her way over to the other scouts, she only said four words.

"I couldn't stop him."

-----

The pain was unbearable, and yet, Lance resisted, a smirk of defiance on his face. "I…may die, but I ain't…going out…without at least…pissing off your maker…" Lance said, still grinning as he raised his middle finger to the Mechanid…_Huh, Mechanid? Where'd that come from?_ Didn't matter, not anymore, soon Lance would be dead…except his right arm suddenly didn't feel like dying, as it suddenly made a grab for his sword, still in his sheathe. Knowing that metal was a great conductor, Lance grabbed his right arm, trying to hold it back as it tried to grab the hilt. _Dammit, I may be about to die, but I'm not dying in even more pain._

All his restraining was to no avail, as his arm finally got the hilt and whipped the sword out. And at that instant, the pain faded. Opening his eyes again, he was surprised to see the blade of the sword absorbing the electricity, clearly annoying the Mechanid as it increased the amperage. Lance was just too stunned by this development to move, and soon, the blade had absorbed all it could and the pain began again, the lightning pushing the blade aside as the machine produced two more of the lightning generators, but these were in the shape of rods, not disks.

Lance grinned defiantly again, even as the balls at the end of each rod began to spark…

-----

Sailor Mars opened her eyes, seeing first her friends, then seeing the prone form of Lance held in the maelstrom of lightning. Seeing this, she tried to get up to help him, save him as he saved her, but her legs just weren't interested, and she could only watch as the machine extended two more lightning generators, these ones rod-like. Even as she watched, the two rods began to spark, and then it happened. Twin bolts of lightning, each a good half-foot in width, arced out and struck Lance dead in the center of his chest. Time seemed to slow, as Lance's head snapped back, the look on his face unmistakable. His sunglasses had finally fallen off, and she could see his glowing blue eyes…eyes that were frozen in shock. Time sped up, and he fell forward, yet still held in the air by the lightning.

"No…" Mars said, a sudden feeling hitting her as she looked at Lance's dead form, "Lance…NO! NOOOOOOOO!" She screamed, tears streaming down her face.

It took a Mechanid to do it, but she had finally admitted her love of Lance, but it would be worthless now.

Lance was dead.

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Author's Note – Yeah, I know what yer thinkin "What the fuck? The main character of your fic is dead? So what now?!" Sadly, I can't answer that, you'll just have to see in the next chapter.

Lance – They'd better, or I'm huntin' you down. I don't like it when I get offed early on.

Author -- anime sweatdrop


	4. Chapter 3 Awakening

Chapter 3 – Awakening

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_"They say, that just before you die, your life flashes before your eyes. All I can say is that it's a load of bullshit. Do you know anyone who's died, then come back and told you that's what happens? I think not. In truth, it's after your dead that you watch your memories replayed as you sink into the darkness that promises eternal peace, including ones that you would swear aren't yours."_

-Excerpt from the journals of Grand Commander Lance Gyronaut,

August 18, year unknown

-----

Light and Pain, Darkness and Peace…

The only things that were evident about this new place was that; the light above, which only promised pain and hardship, from which Lance now sank; and the darkness beneath, promising peace and rest. As he descended, he saw his memories, but something was amiss. The first ones he saw, were not, could not, be his. A twin brother, snatched at birth. A younger sister, who looked awfully familiar but he couldn't place it. A mother he didn't know. A father whom he may know, but couldn't place the laugh. All of this confused him, so he just closed his eyes. But the images wouldn't stop. The sword, his first time ever getting it, from some messenger of a far-away kingdom, but how is that for sure? His own leaving, not for another land, but another world? Capture, meeting another girl he'd sworn he'd met before, in a dark dungeon, and his escape. His arrival on what looked like a moon, the acquisition of that worthless crystal, which didn't seem so worthless now.

Then destruction. A demon queen, her demonic armies, and three others like him. Four of the five girls he'd seen before death, getting mauled by a massive shadow demon. His own mortal wound with a giant icicle rammed through his heart, and his final act of defense, of defiance. Grabbing the demon queen and self-destructing, hoping to take the demon with him. After that, the memories that were shown were the ones he did remember, and soon it all stopped and he had time to think about what he'd done.

_Well, Lance. You may have saved someone, but you killed yourself in the process. And now, that machine, that Mechanid, will probably slaughter those five. But it couldn't be helped, I wanted to save her, without any thought to my well being!_

A voice rang out, quiet, yet somewhat commanding, "Lance…."

_Lance…yeah, that was my name. Guess it don't matter anymore, since I'm dead._

"Lance….Gyronaut…"

_Yes, that's my old name, why does he keep repeating it._

"Zodiac Warrior of the Gemini…"

_…? What? Zodiac Warrior…of the Gemini? Who…_

"Master of Time and Space….it is time…to awaken."

Lance's downward motion was stopped abruptly, and he was flipped around, as a strange being walked towards him from the gray between the light and darkness. "Who…are you?" Lance asked of the being, hand instinctively reaching for the sword that wouldn't be there. He stared at the figure, who was completely armored from head to toe, and carried a sword that looked amazingly like his own.

The figure spoke, glowing slits over where his eyes would be narrowing, ":Because it is your sword, and mine as well, Lance."

Lance started before responded, "You can read minds? So, just what did you mean by 'awakening'?"

The figure chuckled, before removing his helmet, showing…Lance beneath it. "I meant exactly what I said, every word of it. I am you, or rather, the force and memories that are sealed within you. You have to reawaken, for the sake of her royal majesty Queen Serenity and her daughter, the Princess Serena. Otherwise, the dark forces at work will finally triumph, and all shall be lost." The figure, Lance, bowed his head.

Lance was quick to respond to that. "Um…no offense, but I don't know nothing about all that, and why should I believe any of this?"

"Because it is the truth." The other Lance responded, a slight bit of anger in his tone, "Because those dreams you've been having are the truth. Because that 'worthless crystal' of yours is the key to the power that you have lost. And because you must, otherwise, you will be breaking a promise made years ago."

Lance snorted, looking at his double. "Prove it."

The other Lance sighed in annoyance. "When you were born, you had a scar across your left eye, reaching from just under your hairline, to a millimeter below your chin. Not only that, but your left eye was artificial, a type of techno-organic material. You had a star-shaped crystal mounted on your chest, and your eyes glowed. The scar came from an encounter with the Dark Scorpio, Scyther, the eye was created to replace your damaged one, the crystal is the focus of your Zodiac power, and the glowing eyes are the mark of the Master of Time and Space."

Lance blinked a few times, as everything sank in. This person could be bullshitting him, but some part of his spirit told him it was the truth.

"That would be the part I am from." The other Lance said.

Lance started, realization hitting him. "Holy…I don't believe this, but it is the truth, isn't it? Those images I saw…memories that never happened…those occurred while I was you…but," Lance looked down sadly, "it no longer matters. We're dead."

"Then we'll just have to change that, won't we?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"I'm saying, for a Zodiac, death is simply a bit of a break, something that will be remedied in time. Even now, you are starting to rise back to your limp body in the world of the living, called back by the power of the Zodiac Crystal."

Lance started yet again, as he realized he was indeed rising again. "But…I won't remember any of this!"

The other Lance simply nodded. "No, but all will become clear again in time. It will take some time for all of your memories to return to you, for to make you recall everything at once may be too much. For now though, your…_our_, power shall be awakened. Remember this, however…" At this, the other Lance began to float towards Lance, "…although you will have immense power, never use all of it at once. Use only what is needed."

The other Lance condensed into a ball of purplish light, and shot into Lance, who was then launched upwards at an incredible speed, back into the light.

_Now the dream makes sense…I know now what I must do._

-----

Mars continued to watch the horrific scene before them. The machine, it seemed, was not content with just killing Lance, it wanted to destroy his body totally, as the rods on its back continued to hurl large bolts at Lance's prone form. His duster had already been shredded, and it was now working on his black shirt.

Sailor Mars looked around at her friends and teammates. Sailor Mercury was tapping away on her computer, trying to determine if this thing had any weaknesses. Jupiter was banging her fist against a tree, still angry that she couldn't stop Lance. Venus was checking Mars over, working on her wounds to a small degree. And Sailor Moon, their 'leader', was busy just whining as always.

"It's just impossible," Mercury started, "This thing has every possible weak point armored or guarded. How on earth are we going to stop this?"

"Maybe if we combine our powers?" Venus asked.

"No, that wouldn't work either." Mercury said sadly, "I've already run a simulation and it would just shrug it off like…aahhHH!"

The machine now seemed to be able to multi-task, as while the scouts were talking, it had covertly extended a metal tentacle, which was now wrapped around Mercury's ankle and dragging her towards it at an alarming speed. At the same time, another tentacle had wound itself around Lance's torso, in preparation for throwing him. It had all happened so fast, none of them had a chance to react.

"Help me!" Mercury yelled, but it wasn't the scouts who answered her, but rather the machine did.

…as it began to scream, a loud, metallic burst of steam, and the tentacle dragging Mercury stopped doing so, a small section of it becoming thinner, as though it was being pulled from two different directions. The same thing was happening to a section of the one wrapped around Lance's torso. Then a voice, one they all knew, but couldn't believe they were hearing, spoke out.

"That's quite enough, you worthless piece of scrap. How about a real fight?"

The tentacles snapped, and the screaming increased in pitch, as Lance raised his head and opened his eyes, both glowing blue.

-----

Lance stared down at the beast, as a small bluish sphere pushed back the lightning that still danced around him. "I believe its time to send you to the junkyard." Lance said, as his right hand rose up to his chest, touching the star-shaped crystal that had firmly attached itself there, and had absorbed most of the lightning.

"Gemini Zodiac Power, AWAKEN!" Lance shouted.

At the command, the long-thought lost power of the Zodiac blossomed into being again, as purple translucent waves flared up around Lance, distorting his form. As the scouts watched, armor began to form around him, covering him entirely. Purple in color, with various areas white, a horn on the helmet and two fins sticking back over where his ears would be. The greaves formed next, as a pair of glowing slits flashed to life on the faceplate. In a flourish, Lance had whipped his sword out, spun it once around his head, and snapped it down to the right, this act shattering the lightning field and allowing Lance to touch down on the ground again.

The Mechanid looked on, trying to process this new information, unable to since it had been built to deal with the scouts, and not this new force; while Lance held his blade up, in preparation of attack.

-----

"So…he has awakened. It's going to get interesting from now on…" Darkkhan mused, the feeling of a counterpoint to his power quite strong. As if on cue, Scyther rushed in, eyes wide in shock.

"Darkkhan, we've located the Gemini Zodiac Warr-" Scyther shut up as Darkkhan fixed him with an icy glare.

"I know. Reprogram all our current Mechanids for this unexpected turn of events. As for Fusilae, well…it really is too bad." Darkkhan said, voice emotionless.

After Scyther had left, Darkkhan turned back to the viewer, watching Earth. "So, my son, you have awakened? I suppose it is almost time for me to reveal myself then…"

-----

A chaingun popped out before Lance could react, sending a hail of bullets at him. The force of it threw him back, but as he opened his eyes, he found the bullets crashing uselessly on his armor, impacting and falling to the dirt below. A material anaylsis popped up on his visor. _Steel, huh? So this armor can easily deflect steel rounds._ _That gun is still dangerous though._ Rushing forward despite a sudden doubling of the impacts thanks to a second chaingun popping up, Lance leapt up over the Mechanid's back, slashing twice. The clatter of the guns fell silent, as both crashed to the dirt. The mechanid was slow to turn, and during the moments it took to turn, Lance had his left hand cocked back, purplish energy surrounding it. The Mechanid finished its turn, and popped out the lightning rods again. Unfortunately, it didn't get to use them.

"Gemini Zodiac Cannon, Fire!" Lance yelled, thrusting his hand forward. In seconds, the small ball of energy covering his hand had converted to a massive beam twice as wide as Lance was tall, angled up. The blast streaked into the sky, taking with it a pair of lightning rods and some armoring from the Mechanid. During the precious seconds it took in standing up, Lance had darted in and hacked off a leg in a single slash, the machine howling mechanically. It turned and fired a greenish blast from its mouth, sending Lance flying backwards into a tree.

_Ow…didn't expect that…so energy-based attacks are capable of hurting me, eh. _Lance thought, getting up, _Need to finish this now, before the girls get hurt._ The machine had whipped out the two lightning dish units again, preparing to repeat what it had done earlier. Lance didn't intend to let it. Rushing forward, sword in hand, he somersaulted over the machine and buried his blade in its back. This angered the mechanid even more, and it began to flail while Lance charged one of his more deadly attacks, especially to a machine. Index and middle fingers extended, touching his forehead, Lance focused, small sparks flashing from his fingertips. "Gemini….Fusion Shock…" Lance mumbled, and then suddenly thrust his fingers down at the Mechanid, finishing the chant in a shout, "Ignition!"

The mechanid suddenly started to shake violently, sparks flying from the various wounds that had been inflicted upon it. Small explosions rocked it and Lance leapt off, after retrieving his sword, but kept his fingers pointed at it. The explosions started to get bigger, and the thing actually spoke, although it wasn't for anything other than a status check. "System damaged beyond repair, implosion eminent." It said, before promptly imploding, collapsing into itself and fading into dust. Lance landed a short distance away, and with an impatient gesture, flipped his sword around and shoved it into it's sheathe. He stood for several seconds, surveying the damage to the area, and then fell to one knee, a hand on his gut where he'd been blasted. _Ugh…that smarts…_

-----

Forgetting the pain of her legs, Sailor Mars rushed over to Lance, followed by the others. _Who, WHAT is this guy?_ Her thoughts mirrored that of the others, as she kneeled down next to him, his breathing heavy. "Hey, are you alright?" She asked, as he looked up at her. Even hidden by the faceplate, his relief was obvious.

"Good…you're alright…" He managed to get out, then swallowed and tried again, "I'm fine; armor took most of the hit. I'll be able to stand in a second…just need to rest"

Before any of them could ask him about what had happened, someone laughed, a cruel, cold laughter. Exhaustion apparently forgotten, Lance whirled around, drawing his sword as he did so, while Mars looked at where he was looking. What she saw could've been a dark version of Lance, except this one held a trident. When he spoke, the voice was a dark one, a tone that signified the owner was used to being in control.

"So, you have awoken, Lance…" The figure started, "I must say, you weren't expected…you can be assured the next Mechanid you fight will be a much harder foe."

Sailor Jupiter is who answered him. "Who are you!" she yelled, fist clenched.

The figure looked at her, staring for a few seconds, then responded. "I am Darkkhan, Dark Gemini Zodiac Warrior. I have come to finish the mission given to us by our dark queen, Beryl, to eliminate the princess of the Moon Kingdom," at this Darkkhan whipped out his trident, pointing it at Sailor Moon, "You."

Lance suddenly moved, sliding to a halt in front of Moon. "Over my dead and decayed corpse!" He spat out.

Darkkhan chuckled a bit. "'Guard the Bearer of the Silver with your life', the code of the Zodiac Warrior. Still following that rubbish, eh?" Darkkhan then sheathed the weapon, chuckling. _What's this guy's problem? _Mars thought, _Beryl is long dead, so why is he still following her orders._

Darkkhan suddenly looked right at her and chuckled a bit louder. "Because a Zodiac's oath, spoken or not, is his bind. Ever since we were created, we have been hunting her. Does that answer your question, Raye?"

At the mention of her real name, Mars backed up a step. "How…how do..."

Darkkhan laughed once more. "I have limited telepathic ability. I know things about all of you can be used to my advantage…you can be assured of that." He then turned to Lance, "As for you, well…by yourself, you won't be able to protect her forever. Until next time…"

Even as they watched, Darkkhan's image faded, distorted, and vanished. Mars turned around, suddenly wondering many things, and none of them making much sense…

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Author's Note- Well, surprised anyone? R&R please!


	5. Chapter 4 Mystery of the Zodiac

Author's Note – Now we get to the completely re-written chapters. Certain events will remain, but overall I'm looking to improve the pace of the story. Namely, Lance won't seem so omniscient, and will not know who the other Dark Zodiac are. Not only that, but he will not understand his 'other' unique powers for a long while.

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Ch. 4 – Mystery of the Zodiac.

-----

The next day

-----

Lance stared hard at his crystal, wondering just how something like it could contain so much energy. Nearby on the table, his sword lay unsheathed, pulsing rhythmically with the crystal, just like always. The six others who sat around the table watched this curiously.

"So, you say this has always occurred?" Amy asked, referring to the pulsing light. Lance shook his head, before setting the crystal down next to the sword.

"No," he replied, closing his eyes in thought, "it only ever happened at night. I don't know why its pulsing now…" Opening his eyes once more, he reached out and lifted his sword from the table, inspecting the glyph near the guard. It didn't provide any clues insofar as that it matched the engraving on the crystal. As he had guessed back when he'd gotten the weapon, the crystal and weapon belonged together, seemed to contain the same energy. Looking back up at the others as he sat the weapon down, he shrugged his shoulders. "Have any of you ever seen such a thing?" Lance asked, letting his logical side gain control, "A crystal that exudes so much power…do any of you know of any similar objects?"

Darien answered him, looking at Serena as he did so. "What about the Silver Crystal? I don't know why, but your explanation of what it did yesterday reminds me of how powerful the Silver Crystal was back when it was first reformed."

Lance closed his eyes again, absorbing this new info (for him at least.), rubbing at his chin in thought. "Perhaps…where is this 'Silver Crystal' you mentioned?" Lance asked, looking at the Gemini Crystal thoughtfully.

Serena answered him this time. "I have it." She said, pulling off her locket and opening it, setting on the table next to Lance's crystal. Before Lance could ask what he had in mind, the Silver Crystal began to pulse in tandem with the Gemini Crystal and Sabre. Everyone was struck dumb, not quite understanding what this meant. Oddly, while the Gemini Crystal and Gemini Sabre pulsed at the same strength, the Silver pulsed a lot stronger, nearly blinding with its radiance.

Raye was the first to snap out of it, whispering a question. "Why is the Silver Crystal pulsing along with yours, Lance? What is it that links them?"

Lance could only shake his head, just as confused as the others. What he didn't know, was that this very pulse was the reason he was here, the reason he _had_ to protect Serena from the Dark Zodiac. And that now, he would know when he was needed to do so.

-----

Darkkhan felt a sudden surge in his counterpoint, a sudden increase of energy that quickly faded. He knew all too well what that meant. "So now the Silver and Gemini are linked." He murmured, narrowing his eyes in annoyance, "though I doubt you know what has happened, my son. Things just became more complicated for us."

Darkkhan turned to the display of the Earth, currently set to 'Energy Scan'. Now, a concentration of 'Gemini' energy had finally formed in Japan, in roughly the same area as the planetary energy concentrations. Not surprising, what with Lance having awoken the dormant Gemini Crystal. And now it would be that much harder to get at Princess Serena, for anytime she was in danger, Lance's crystal would alert him, and bring him running.

Lost in thought, Darkkhan began to absently switch the settings for the display, going through many different scan modes. As he cycled through them, something caught his attention: A strange blip that appeared on the 'Temporal Scan' option. A blip that was, for all intents and purposes, in the same location as Lance. Raising one of his eyebrows quizzically, Darkkhan shifted the display back to 'Energy Scan' mode, and zoomed in…

…just in time to see an entirely new 'Lunar' energy source quite literally pop up. Darkkhan blinked, thinking maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, as he set the system to play back all inputs from three minutes ago forward. "I must be thinking too hard. There is no way that-" Darkkhan paused, stunned, as just like before, at exactly one minute ago, a new 'Lunar' source just popped up. No gradual build, no shift in the other one. It was just 'there', which caused Darkkhan to grow suspicious.

_A new 'Lunar' source, appearing right where a temporal shift occurred. What does this mean…and where did it come from: Past or Future…_Darkkhan thought, feeling both anxious and angry.

He had to know. He had to know what or who this new source was, had to know where it came from. He carefully weighed his options at this point. He could go himself, but that was asking for trouble he didn't want. Scyther was out, the Dark Scorpio was too perverted to risk in case the new source was female. That left only Gunthar, the Dark Capricorn. Even as he thought it, he knew it was the only logical choice.

Darkkhan headed for the door, intent on finding the Dark Capricorn. Sure, he could've summoned him, but Darkkhan rarely got any exercise as it was. A walk would do him good, both physically and mentally. Darkkhan suddenly grinned, a new thought entering his head. _No matter what, Lance will have felt the shift. He will most likely be wondering what it was and trying to find it. Perhaps Gunthar can occupy him long enough for the rest of us to do our job._

Laughing darkly, Darkkhan continued on his way, almost seeing his coming victory.

-----

3 minutes ago

-----

Lance's eyes suddenly flashed, brightening for a split-second, and almost immediately his hand shot to his forehead, wincing. "Damn it, not again." He said, his voice strained. Raye was immediately next to him, concern on her face.

"Are you alright?" Raye asked in a worried tone, even as Lance managed to open one eye.

"Yeah…I'm fine…I just wish I knew what this was abo-" Whatever Lance thought was suddenly cut off by a sudden shift in the way he was seeing things. He could still see things normally, that hadn't changed, but the strange patterned-fields that had suddenly enveloped everyone he could see was new. The patterns didn't differentiate between people, which confused him a bit…until looking around, he realized he could see the same pattern on every person in town, as though solid objects didn't prevent him from seeing the…well, for lack of a better word, _auras_ surrounding them. As he looked around, he immediately saw an aura that _wasn't_ the same.

Whatever that meant, Lance wasn't sure. One thing he _was_ sure about was that whomever that aura was around, was the reason for this sudden change of perspective. Everyone was now looking at him concernedly, and he decided that it might be a good idea to tell them exactly what he was seeing. "Don't ask me what its about, but I'm currently seeing a strange, aura-like field projected from everyone in town." Lance said, in a very serious tone, "It's the same for every person, except one. I think…I think that person is the reason why I'm seeing like this."

Amy was rather quick to respond. "Has this happened before? The whole 'aura-field-viewing' effect?" A shake of Lance's head was his response, and Amy immediately came up with another question. "You said, 'again' when your eyes flashed, and it seemed you were having a headache. When else did this happen, and how many times?"

Lance thought about it for a few seconds before responding. "About three, maybe four times, all around four years ago." No sooner were the words out of his mouth, than a look passed between the other six in the room, and Lance was suddenly certain that they had an idea who it was. "Alright, you six know something about this, mind telling me?"

They were all whispering to each other, and all Lance caught was "You think its her?" and "But why would she come back?", and quite frankly, he was getting annoyed. Sticking his head into their 'huddle', Lance stated, "Why don't we go check it out, hm? That way, I know who it is, you guys know, and no one is totally lost on what's going on." As he glanced back towards the odd aura, he immediately saw another 'current' aura. The only reason he noticed this one, however, was because it was up in the sky, and descending towards the 'non-current' aura. For some reason he couldn't explain, Lance suddenly felt the need to hurry.

"And we might want to get a move on, because someone is dropping out of the sky…right on top of whoever that is."

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Author's Note – R&R please! I want to know if there's actually _anyone_ reading this.


	6. Chapter 5 Dark Zodiac 2, Gunthar's Attac...

Author's Note – Okay, now I know this is going to take awhile to finish up. I'm expecting maybe somewhere between 30 and 40 chapters, and it's getting really hard to get up the motivation to type a chapter up. Not that I plan to stop, and once this story is out of the way, the sequels should go a little smoother (yes, I do have sequels planned.).

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Ch. 5 - Dark Zodiac 2, Gunthar's Attack.

The disorientation was short and faded quickly as she stepped from the vortex, just as Lance had said. It was definitely a different experience from traveling along the Corridor of Time, and a whole lot quicker. Trying to get her bearings, Rini looked around, finding herself in an empty alleyway. _Well, might as well start by finding the others. _Shouldn't be too hardshe thought, shrugging her shoulders; they would most likely be at the temple, and even if they weren't, Raye's grandpa should have some idea where they went.

Rini shuddered at the thought of having to deal with the old man. If she were younger, she wouldn't have cared, but in all of her journeys to this time period, she had noted how perverted the old man could be. And now she was in her teenage years, just past her sixteenth, and now she resembled her mother even more closely than before, with the exception of her odangos, which were just as pointed as ever, instead of her mother's more rounded look. Sighing in acceptance of the fact that she'd have to meet the old man at some point on this trip, she continued out onto the sidewalk, while her mind went back to the main reason she was here in the first place…

"Rini, there's something you need to do for us." Lance had said, balancing easily on one of his twin blades as he stared at her, his expression unreadable thanks to the armor that he always wore.

_"What is it?" She'd asked, having a sudden feeling that something just wasn't right._

_"I'm going to send you back into the past, roughly around four years later than the last time you went." Lance had stated, " While you're there, you need to find the four of us in that time period." He gestured to the other three Zodiac Warriors who were sitting around nearby. "Also, don't reveal any details of your mission until after you find one of us, and don't use your powers until you are sure it won't cause problems."_

_"What do you mean, problems?" She'd asked, now feeling a bit scared. Lance had simply chuckled a bit before responding._

_"Lets just say, don't use your powers until one of the others has attained the same."_

_Sabre had stepped forward at that point, and handed her a bracelet. "This will help you." He'd said, slipping it onto her right wrist, "It is programmed to alert you if any Zodiac energy is detected near you: Light or Dark. If its Light, meaning, one of us; it will chime gently. If Dark, it will blare loudly. If you were younger, Luna-P would do the job, but seeing as how you're older now…"_

_"Luna-P might raise too many questions." Rini finished for him, nodding in understanding._

_As Sabre stepped back, Lance had stood, slipping his sword into its sheath as he faced the wall. Gesturing with one hand, a bright swirling blue vortex had opened, and nodding, she had stepped through…_

"And now I'm here." Rini said, wondering if four years had really passed in this period. As she turned a corner, she recognized a store where, her first time here, she'd been attacked. She chuckled fondly at the memory, wondering how she could have been so naïve, believing that she had to get the Silver Crystal of this era to save her mother, only to find out that the Silver Crystal of _her_ era had actually hidden itself away in her body. Before it could go any further, she shut the string of memories out, not wanting to remember the darker half of her first time-traveling journey. To remind herself of what she was supposed to be doing, she reached down and adjusted the bracelet on her wrist-

-which immediately started blaring, loudly and annoyingly. Rini froze as it did so, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. _Oh, shit._ Yep, she wasn't as innocent as she was the last time she'd come here, and no word seemed to fit for an accurate description of her situation. Seconds later, the ground literally shook as someone slammed down, sending many of the people around running in fear. Slowly turned, the first thing she noticed about the Dark Zodiac behind her was the massive axe. She recognized him a split second later.

Gunthar. This won't turn out good.

Gunthar simply stared at her, before hefting the massive axe into his hands and advancing. Almost by instinct, Rini's hand darted to her locket, but stopped halfway as Lance's words came back to her.

_"…don't use your powers…"_

He was right. Revealing her powers at this stage would cause problems. The Dark Zodiac didn't need to know that it was possible yet. So instead of transforming, Rini started to retreat, a step at a time. Gunthar decided on that moment to start asking questions, his thick, Austrian accent intimidating. "Who are you, and of what relation are you to the princess?"

_Huh? _Rini thought, confusion playing across her face, _What kind of…wait, these guys are after mom…and in this time period, she's still known as a…oh, that's what he meant. Not like I'm gonna tell him._

Her silence seemed to infuriate him, as he started taking longer, and longer strides, repeating the question every few seconds, adding in "Damn you, answer me!" and many other curses. Rini continued to back up, resisting the urge to turn and run, wishing she could just transform and kick this guy's ass. Someone, however, decided to interrupt Gunthar's little Q&noA session.

"Get down!" A familiar voice yelled out behind her, and suddenly she was being swung around behind someone. A someone wearing a black duster, who continued to spin after releasing her, leap up, and plant his foot in the side of Gunthar's head in a perfect roundhouse kick. The Dark Zodiac, not expecting such a move, whirled to the side and landed facedown on the pavement. It was at this moment, that Rini heard a gentle chiming coming from her bracelet, even as her savior drew a _very_ familiar looking sword.

_That's…that's Lance!_

-----

The big guy slowly got to his feet, hefting an axe bigger than Lance was, which to Lance's mind, was really just _too_ big. From the corner of his eye, he noted the young girl slipping around the corner, which was all Lance needed to know. _She's with the others now, and out of sight. Time to start the fireworks._ Gunthar had finally got to his feet, staring at Lance with what he knew to be unbridled anger. The large Dark Zodiac continued to glare as he spoke.

"I don't recall inviting you to this party, Lance." Gunthar said, raising his axe high. Lance shrugged, focusing his energy as he settled into his combat stance. Quite suddenly, sparks started to play across Lance's body, and seconds later his armor formed. No overly-long activation phrases, no trinkets to fumble out of a hiding place, just his crystal responding to his thoughts as easily as his own arm. The axe was coming down, and Lance twisted to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. Concrete chips flew as the axe buried itself in the sidewalk, and Lance darted in, preparing for a stab while the large warrior was preoccupied with pulling his axe out of the sidewalk…and proved to be rather quick about it as Lance found himself flying across the street from a baseball swing of the axe.

Ow…okay, big axe, strength to wield it like a feather. Okay, I can handle this- 

Lance's thoughts were cut off as he was bodily hauled up and hurled down the road, his thoughts coming back on track while he skipped along like a flat rock on a lake. _And some serious speed to boot. Okay, this may be a problem. _Getting to his feet, Lance leapt to the side as the big warrior hurtled down on him, tearing a sixteen-foot long canyon in the road. _Holy shit! Faster than I thought._ As Gunthar turned around, Lance decided he wanted to know something. "Okay, you know me, so how about you introduce yourself." Lance said, a sudden smirk creasing his face, "After all, I like to know the names of the guys whose asses I intend to kick."

A deep chuckle emanated from under Gunthar's faceplate as he responded. "My name is Gunthar, Dark Capricorn Zodiac Warrior," Lance could almost envision a sneer on the big guy's face as he continued, "and as for 'kicking my ass', from what I've seen so far, you're the one who's getting your ass kicked." Swinging the axe into both hands as though it were no more than a broom, Gunthar started to advance.

Lance slowly backed up, deciding that he should try for more information while he was at it. "Okay, Gunthar…gotcha…just how many of you 'Dark Zodiac' are there?" Lance asked, even as he started to check his armor's tech database (something he'd just noticed, mind you.) for something to use against Gunthar.

Gunthar chuckled some more before responding. "Lord Darkkhan, you've already met." He began, "And besides myself, there is also Lord Scyther, the Dark Scorpio. The three of us are all that remains of the old Dark Zodiac." Gunthar began to pick up speed, even as he continued speaking, "However, we do intend to recruit a few more into our ranks, a worthy counter to you and the other…well, never mind, since I intend to put you out of action for a long time to come." Without warning, the axe was raised and glowing, arcing towards Lance.

"Dark Capricorn Earthquake Slash!"

The axe fell short, but it seemed that had been Gunthar's plan all along as a ripple of energy swept out from the impact point, bringing with the pavement it passed. The wave lifted Lance off his feet, and the rubble beat at his armor mercilessly, inflicting numerous bruises (so noted by his armor's biosensors, another nifty function Lance had discovered. He really needed to take the time to figure out all the little functions, he thought.) , and nearly breaking a few bones. His armor could stop most forms of projectile weaponry, but for the most part he still felt the impacts. Landing on his back near where he started this little duel, Lance finally finished checking the tech database, noting a whole lot of 'insufficient energy to use safely' and 'insufficient level' notes. What he DID have access to, wasn't much in terms of the firepower the database _said_ he had, but one particular trick had stood out as being something that might slow Gunthar down for a few seconds.

In standing, he noticed something out of the corner of his left eye, and looked that way. His eyes locked with Raye's, even as her eyes suddenly grew alarmed. _Huh? What is she afraid of?_ He returned his focus towards Gunthar…

…and felt the bite of the Dark Zodiac's axe as it slammed into his left shoulder, and through it, cleaving his arm right off his body. Lance clenched his teeth and suppressed the urge to scream. He still heard one though, from the left. _Most likely at seeing me lose an arm…this isn't…good…how long...till I bleed out..._ Staggering back, Lance used the pain as a focal point, gathering small charges of lightning in his closed right fist. Gunthar hefted the axe from the ground, and looked at him funny, Lance having the distinct feeling that Gunthar was puzzled with his choice of action. "My god, you really have forgotten everything, just as Lord Darkkhan believed." Gunthar said, now shaking his head. "This complicates matters. Not only do you recall little of your true skill and power, but you have also forgotten the honor of the Zodiac…"

THIS statement, along with an earlier statement that his mind decided that moment to shove in his face, perplexed Lance. _Honor? Others? What's this guy talking about?_ "What do…you know about…honor?" Lance managed to breathe out, the crackling in his fist growing all the while. Gunthar looked at him in what Lance determined to be sadness.

"Honor…both Light and Dark Zodiac are bound by honor to do what is commanded of them." Gunthar began, shouldering his massive blade, "Even when we were created, it was thus. Beryl tried to eliminate that sense of honor from us, and failed. And so, when we made our assault on the Moon Kingdom to kill the princess, we were forced into withdrawal when you defeated Lord Darkkhan. Many on both sides fell then, but not to the attacks of the other side." Gunthar looked to the sky, chuckling as he recalled that battle. "Its seems funny now, how so many Light and Dark Zodiac fell to the attacks of minor foes: Light to the demons that Beryl had accompany us, Dark to the adamantium spear-equipped Royal Guard. But even when you had Lord Darkkhan at the point of your sword, you chose instead to banish us for one-thousand-and-twenty years."

Gunthar looked back at Lance then, hefting his axe into his hands. "Even then, your honor prevented you from killing one of us, just as our honor prevents us from killing you." At this, Lance stared at Gunthar as though the large man had just cracked a really unfunny joke. _Say what?_

"And what about that Mechanid?" Lance retorted, his rage allowing him to fight through the darkness that was slowly clouding his mind. "That infernal machine that electrocuted me to death!"

Gunthar shook his head, "An unfortunate incident, as we didn't expect you to be anywhere near. Fusilae was programmed to subdue the Inner Scouts, and if they appeared, the Outer Scouts as well; and then to kill the princess. You were an unknown, and sadly, the machine's A.I. was so limited that it chose to eliminate you as well, deleting an unknown variable, as it were." Lance had the sudden impression the large warrior was grinning, "And because of that faulty program, one of the biggest thorns in our side was reawakened. Now, perhaps you might think to regenerate that arm of yours before you bleed to death. I'd rather not have to watch you fall unconscious from blood loss and burn up my energy to heal you."

Lance started, even as his armor responded and brought up the necessary information. _Oh, so that's possible…who'd thought._ "Well, thanks for the tip…" Lance responded, even as he let the sparks in his hand recede, diverting the energy towards the stump of his shoulder. Another shot of pain lanced through him, and he distinctly heard a wet, slurping noise, and suddenly, he could feel his left arm again. Looking at the slightly wet appendage, Lance flexed his arm experimentally. It was sore, but otherwise fine. Looking to his old, but still-armored arm (with the large pool of blood at the shoulder), he was quite surprised when the armor on it glowed, converted to energy, and shot towards him, enveloping his new arm and reforming. Looking back at Gunthar, even as sparks started to surge again in his right hand. "I'd assume, if I was the aggressor in this instance, that we'd call off this fight now. But since you're the aggressor, and I'm 'honor-bound' to defeat you, this fight is going to continue."

Gunthar said nothing, simply crouching low and bum rushing him. This time, though, Lance was prepared, as he opened his right fist. A large sphere of electricity formed about three inches above his open hand, as he cocked his arm back.

"Gemini Lightning Orb, Engulf!"

Snapping his arm forward, he quite literally hurled the sphere into Gunthar's face, where it promptly exploded into a massive field of lightning, trapping the Dark Zodiac with its paralyzing power. It lasted for several seconds, time that Lance used to draw his sword and line up his attack. _Guess we'll find out if he's right about that 'honor' he mentioned. _As the technique's effect ended, Lance rushed in, swinging his sword at Darkkhan's neck…and involuntarily stopping it a centimeter before it connecting. Lance could only stare in wonder, even as Gunthar looked to the blade. _Holy…I guess…time to put it to the test. Darkkhan is their leader, so…_ "You lose. Leave, and don't return for three weeks. That includes any of your 'Mechanids'." Lance stated, withdrawing the blade.

Gunthar stepped back, attaching his axe to his back. "Very well. Just so you do know, your conditions only affect our G-type Mechanids and me. This doesn't include Darkkhan, Scyther, or the other Mechanid types." Oddly, this statement didn't surprise Lance, which he found odd. _Guess I was expecting it. After all, I did only beat Gunthar…if it were Darkkhan, then I could've alleviated all this for a lot longer. Wait a second, how do I know that…ugh, must be some memories surfacing…how nice._ As he watched, Gunthar faded into shadow, and vanished. Shrugging, Lance sheathed his sword and disengaged his armor, walking over to where Raye was still standing, looking a bit shaken, but otherwise alright.

"I can't believe…that they actually have some sense of honor." She said, a slightly confused look on her face. Lance shrugged in reply, before suddenly being hit by a wave of lightheadedness. Before either of them could react, Lance collapsed, falling into Raye's arms as he did so. Seconds later, he began to snore, and Raye realized he'd fallen asleep.

"Just great, now I have to drag you someplace so you can rest."

--------------------

Author's note: And so now you know why Darkkhan sent Gunthar instead of going himself. R&R with your thoughts on the matter, please!


End file.
